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Trying to Reform Government
Dear Editor:
A letter from an obviously agitated Rose Braatz begs for correction. I was never chairman of the Philipstown Conservative Party (actually "Committee," Rosie.)
Mrs. Braatz urges a return to the former glory of the Conservative Party. She will have to return to when Jim Buckley ran solely on its line. She concedes that the party needs reform. Where is she in addressing specific areas requiring reform?
As mentioned, I was never Philipstown chairman. I was Russ Pipitone's vice chairman. After his death, his local appointments, including myself and his own daughter, were invalidated by County Conservative chairman James Maxwell.
Maxwell then went before a notary to present names of his seven appointees in Philipstown. Three were no longer Conservative Party registrants. The committee's four remaining legal members contrasted sharply with the 19 out of 20 potential posts which Russ filled with legal Conservative registrants. One Maxwell appointee included the former chairman who could provide no bank records.
Maxwell was aware of Russ's appointments when he met with Russ, me, Skip Dale and an election commissioner to clarify what was needed to reorganize after a previous administration ran the bank account into the ground. At no time did he object to my "illegal" presence.
I did not accuse former Senator Pataki of appointing incompetents. Under Civil Service, Mrs. Braatz might not have caught the brass ring. The job was an unabashed political payoff. Let's get real.
In my journalism career, I angered some co-workers by returning monetary bribes. I have conducted my political life in the same vein, as vice chairman/ communications director of the New Jersey Conservative Union and later in various capacities over here in which I have been offered plush jobs to "back off."
Mrs. Braatz accuses me of "living in the past" She is retired; I am still out here trying to reform government.
She urges me to "get a life." Unlike those who ultimately profit from the political process and languish in retirement, I make my living in several other arenas. Actually, Rosie, for a non-cat, I have an abundance of lives.
Catherine Portman-Laux
Garrison
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